Buddha's teachings at a monastery in New York | Finding Faith

CARMEL, N.Y. (FOX 5 NY) - The Buddhist Association of the United States President Bhikkhu Bodhi was ordained as a Buddhist monk nearly 50 years ago while living in Sri Lanka. And before 1973, Jeffery Block, as Bhikkhu Bodhi was then known, lived in Borough Park, Brooklyn, where he grew up in a secular Jewish family.

Now 74, he and a few other Buddhist monks and nuns live the Chuang Yen Monastery in Putnam County, New York. The serene setting provides a tranquil place for those devoted to studying and practicing the ancient teachings of the Buddha. Inside the Great Buddha Hall sits the largest indoor Buddha statue in the Western Hemisphere.

Bhikkhu Bodhi spoke to Fox 5 about the meaning of Buddhism. He said the Buddha believed in what he described to his disciples as the "four noble truths."